Velocipede



(No M J.S.C ()PE,LAND

VELOGIPBDE.

Patented June 14, 1887.

WTNEEEEE' I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES S. COPELAND, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE POPE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

VELOCIPEDE.

SPECIFICATION forming part! Letters Patent No. 364,632, dated June 14-, 1887.

7 Application filed January 28, lBfi. Serial No. 225,771. (No model.) I

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES- S. COPELAND, of the city of Hartford, county of Hartford, and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Velocipede Steering- .Heads, of which the following is a specificaa seat for the upper steering-center.

tion.

The object of my improvement is to afford a simple practicable means of producing a tendency in the steering mechanism to retain and to return to its normal position as against causes of deflection, whether communicated at the will of the rider through the steering mechanism or through the irregularities and obstructions of the roads, and to provide this means in a neat form and so as not to disfigure the appearance of the velocipede.

The accompanying drawings show a tricycle constructed to embody my improvement in one form, and in these Figure 1 shows in elevation asteering-wheel, fork, steering-head, and part of the reach or frame and steeringrod of the tricycle. Fig. 2. shows the -same enlarged, partly in vertical sections; and Figs. 3 and 4 show the same in horizontal section on the line 0a 00, looking downward.

A is a steering-wheel. B is a fork. reach or part of the frame. steering-head. E is a steering-rod leading from the steering mechanism on the body of the velocipede to and connected by suitable joint, g, with the arm G, projecting from and attached to or rigidly connected with the up- Cisa per end of the steering-head. H is a steeringspindle having the upper and lower steeringcenters h h, and connected by the neck f with the reach C. I is an adj usting-b'olt affording K is a washer. L is a set-nut. M is a space or small chamber in the front interior side of the steering-head with a flattened side, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. O is a bent leaf-spring. F is an opening in the rear side of the steeringhead to allow play of the neck F and insertion of the steering-spindle, and Q, is a flattened front side or surface upon the steering-spindle H.

In this form of construction it will be ob- Dis a cylindrical served that I have used an ordinary steering mechanism for a tricycle with a cylindrical head and its inclosed steering-spindle and neck and their connectingarms; that I have formed a flattened surface in and upon the in terior of the steering-head and an enlarged chamber therein and a flattened surface upon the steering-spindle on the front side, and that in this enlarged chamber and between the flattened'surfaces of the spindle and the head I have inserted a stiff plate or leaf spring, bent so that its ends shall rest upon one of the flattened surfaces and its middle part uponanother; and the operation of this contrivan ce is as follows: When the steering-head is turned so as to deflect the steering-wheel from its normal plane, the distance between the two flattened surfaces is contracted and the spring compressed, as shown in Fig. 4, and when the pressure causing-the deflection is slackened the force of the spring tends to throw the steering-head about again, so as to bring the flattened surfaces parallel to each other and the spring to its position of least tension, as

shown in Fig. 3. The tendency to deflection of the steering-wheel, caused by irregularities and obstructions in the road, is resisted by the spring and its connected parts by an operation similar to that described.

It is obvious that modifications may be made in the form and arrangement of the parts described without departing from the substance of my invention, and I do not mean to limit myself precisely to the things shown and de scribed. 

